U.S. Pat. No. 6,687,523 B1 discloses a garment for infants, having an information infrastructure within the fabric that can include materials for sensing one or more body vital signs of the wearer. The information infrastructure component can consist of either a high or a low electrical conductivity component or both high and low conductivity fibers. They can be used to monitor one or more body vital signs including heart rate, pulse rate, temperature, and oxygen saturation (pulse ox), through sensors on the body and for linking to a personal status monitor (PSM). The conductive materials can be inserted within the fabric in different ways, e.g. they can be woven or knitted within the fabric.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,727,197 discloses a knitted, woven, or braided textile ribbon including one or more transmission elements. The transmission elements are preferably separated one from the others by non-conductive fibers. The transmission elements can be woven or knitted with the non-conductive fibers, and they are used to transmit signals in order to e.g. interconnect two electronic devices on the same garment, or one electronic device on the garment and a second electronic device located on another garment or a belt. In other words, the ribbon is used as a BUS.
A problem of some fabrics, especially fabrics with sensors or technical yarns, is that they might be damaged if subjected to unsuitable or inappropriate treatments such as washing cycles at too high temperatures or by dry cleaning instead of water (or vice versa), etcetera. Similarly, damages can occur when the garment is worn in unsuitable or inappropriate wearing conditions, such as in the rain or snow. Damages may also be accidental, such as a fall in the water or ironing, and similar.
In other cases, the damage develops after a certain number of events, e.g. after a number of home washings. The damage may not always be visible at first sight, in particular if only the sensors or technical yarns are damaged. As a result, the real condition of a garment may not be known by a user.
There is thus the need to find a way to detect the conditions of a garment or of a fabric. In particular, with the information obtained a user may e.g. better manage its garment, evaluate the value of used garments, etc.
Furthermore, when a fabric is damaged, thanks to this data it may be possible to evaluate if the damage is due to a poor quality of the fabric, or to a bad handling of the garment itself, e.g. because it has been cleaned too frequently and/or at a too high temperature, or in the wrong way. Other garments, e.g. work clothes, can be certified for a certain number of washings only, i.e. some properties are lost after a certain number of washings.
There is thus the need to evaluate the nature and possibly also the number of predetermined events carried out on a garment.